Paper Authors

Duane Fairfax
USMA

MAJ Duane Fairfax is an instructor in the Computer Science Program at the US Military
Academy. He has a Master of Engineering Degree in Computer Science and Engineering from the
University of South Carolina and is a member of IEEE.

Kevin Huggins
USMA

Kevin L. Huggins is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at the US Military Academy at West Point. He received his Ph.D. in Computer Science from the École de Mines de Paris in 2005 and is a member of both the Association for Computing Machinery and the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers.

Bryan Goda
USMA

COL Bryan Goda is a permanent Academy Professor and director of the Information Technology Program at the US Military Academy. He has a Ph.D. in Computer Engineering from RPI and is a senior member of IEEE.

Abstract

NOTE: The first page of text has been automatically extracted and included below in lieu of an abstract

A Deliberate Integration of Information Technology in the
Classroom

Abstract

The Information Age has revolutionized the way students learn in the classroom. The United
States Military Academy (USMA) emphasizes the importance of Information Technology (IT)
through an academy-wide IT specific goal. This goal supports the USMA’s mission of producing
Army Officers who can respond effectively to technological changes in the defense of our
nation.

Courses augmented with IT can be daunting for cadets who lack the experience and confidence
level to succeed in the course. As a result, these types of courses are avoided by cadets if at all
possible. This is not an option for an aspiring officer who will lead the soldiers of tomorrow on a
digitized battlefield. Since 1990, cadets have been issued a computer which has played a central
role in bringing the power of IT to all graduates of the Military Academy. Integration of IT in
the curriculum begins early with every cadet receiving a laptop computer. An integrated
software package is included to support any course of instruction. Cadets receive two courses in
IT, one in their freshman year and one in their junior year. The freshman course teaches the
cadet the basic functionality of the laptop, a basic programming language, and creating a basic
website. The junior course builds on the freshman course by teaching the cadets to create an
advanced website, design and build a network, manage a database, and create an information
system.

IT plays a central role in several overlap courses between engineering and the humanities in such
areas as information warfare, terrorism, and the legal aspects of intellectual property rights. What
makes this approach unique is the methodical diffusion of IT into course design which removes
the barrier between learning and the implementation of IT as an academic multiplier. An
academy-wide committee consisting of 12 members is responsible for examining collected data
to see how well the Military Academy is meeting its IT goal. This data comes from a variety of
sources such as end of course surveys, graduate surveys, commander’s surveys and interviews,
advisory boards, recent graduate seminars, and rotating faculty. The data helps to assess both IT
outcomes and objectives. The proposed approach empowers cadets to embrace technology and
leverage its benefits and not classify it as a learning impediment. Ultimately, this concept will
allow cadets to design, implement, and maintain critical information systems utilized in the
Army.

Introduction

The ubiquitous use of Information Technology (IT) has forever changed business practices in
industry as well as national defense. The 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center and the
Pentagon accelerated the use of IT by government agencies and the Department of Defense.
Various types of IT currently in use range from wireless devices used to take a suspect’s photo
for identification purposes to reconnaissance robots employed by the U.S. Army in the Global